On Shakespeare and Spiderman.

On Saturday I encountered both Shakespeare and Spiderman. Since then, I've been trying to tie the two experiences together for the sake of an interesting blog, and I think I have the link: Language.

Shakespeare: I tried out for a Shakespeare acting company. I'm not an actress. I loathe the stage. I'm uncomfortable as the center of attention. But I love Shakespeare. I love his language, his plot lines, his characters, and everything that comes with that silly iambic pentameter guru. So, just for kicks, I auditioned to see what an English teacher could do up against a handful of newly-graduated-theatre-majors.

My 124 minutes in the audition were awkward, strange, funny, and enlightening. Theatre people do warm-ups that seem sillier to me than most yoga poses. They are also more adept at memorizing than I am, but I already knew memorizing was a weakness of mine. Acting the part of Perdita from "A Winter's Tale," however, was fun when I was given actions to go along with my words. Whenever I felt awkward, I concentrated on the language and slid back into being comfortable with acting. The language drew me along past anxiety, and I ended up being more entertained than nervous, which was all I had asked of myself anyway.

Spiderman III: I usually like the Spiderman movies. Though I had been warned before walking into this one, I still had expected it to be good. I did not expect to feel as awkward as I had in the Shakespeare audition--but I did. Why? Because of the language. It wasn't foul or crass, only weak. In particular, the dialogue was weak. Instead of relaxing into the language, I checked the time. Like in any movie, there were a few good lines and quotes that have stuck with me, but for the most part, I struggled with the language--and a little of the plot. I missed Shakespeare's tight plot lines.

Though the language was not up to my literary standards, I'm not going to leave Spidey with a horrid review. Thematically, the movie was solid. With themes of friendship, forgiveness, dedicated marriage, good conquering evil, choices, redemption, etc, Spiderman III rocked.

So, in sum: Saturday seeking Shakespeare 'n Spiderman equals: a day of language. (Which, unfortunately is a word without "s"s. And "syntax" isn't quite right either. Silliness. Does "language" have an "s" synonym?)